lessons learned
by CS Fitzgerald
Summary: Blair Cornelia Waldorf thought that she knew all there was to know about life. That was, until she met a boy from Brooklyn.


**lessons learned**

**i.**

Blair Cornelia Waldorf thought that she knew all there was to know about life. After all, by the time she was around thirteen or fourteen, she had already memorized everything, every seemingly insignificant fact, every detail and every logistic, about human reproduction: _(Sperm + egg = zygote, XY boy, XX girl, 23 chromosomes)._ But, as it turns out, you can only learn so much about the vast and endless world from the yellowed pages of an outdated textbook.

**ii.**

Learning such things will still help you on a test or exam, will even help you pass AP Biology in eleventh grade, but it won't give you what's really important (_as __Blair herself can well attest to)__._ It won't tell you why people keep deadly secrets, are evil behind friendly masks, or betray those that they claim to love the most. Mainly, though, it won't tell you what makes them squirm or tick.

**iii.**

There's another thing for that—it's called experience, something most people think you have none of at sixteen.

**iv.**

As it turns out, you've got more than they think. Now that you're Queen, you've got enough for ten lifetimes.

**v.**

Your home life is only half of it. You've got successful parents and a beautiful apartment on the Upper East Side and everything's _perfectperfectperfect. _Except it's not, not even close. Not when you have nearly impossible standards to live up to—to follow in the footsteps of two succesful parents who are never home, who are never there to offer you the guidance or the love you've so desperately craved since you were a child, who are never there to hold you when you've spent two hours on the bathroom floor holding yourself together after throwing up last night's dinner.

_Yup, your life is real perfect._

**vi.**

Your relationship with your friends is the other half. The half that is slowly starting to crumble apart now that Serena's gone and never coming back. The half that is being threatened by Gossip Girl every second. The complicated web of lies, damage, and destruction that is slowly beginning to unravel text message by text message. And every time you think you get an answer, a clue that will help you in unraveling the puzzle and finding the identity of the person ruining your life, you realize there's a dozen more questions left to find out, and you're further back now than where you started.

**vii.**

There is one person from Brooklyn who makes you forget about everything, though. His name is Daniel Humphrey and he's a literal godsend. Yet, at 5'12, with his dark chestnut eyes, sweet smile, and ruffled plaid sweaters, he's not like any of the other boys you've dated. When the two of you go to dinner parties, there's always gonna be a difference; there will always be a language that sounds like English that he thinks he speaks it, but doesn't. And your friends, they don't hear him, and he doesn't understand them either. They look at him, but never see him, and wonder whether he's a whim or a charity case.

They say that girls like you don't end up with Dan Humphrey; they end up with the Chuck Bases or Nate Archibalds of the world. That one day you'll realize this, and he'll turn to jjust another cocktail party anecdote of your foolish, reckless youth.

And you laugh and tell them they couldn't be more wrong.

**viii.**

Because he understands what it feels like to be an outsider in your own city and to have people constantly point their fingers at you. He understands that times can be tough and unfair and you might feel alone. _He's been through it, too__._

**ix.**

And he's there for you when you find out that your pregnant and aren't sure who the father is. He's there for you after the tragic accident, when you leave the only man you think you can truly love and dream of the lost baby boy buried in between your breasts. He's even there for you on the day that's supposed to be the happiest day of your life, when you finally realize you're in a loveless marriage with Prince Charming, and that there are no more fairy-tales, no more great loves, no more anything.

He doesn't speak or judge; he just listens and pats you on the shoulder comfortingly when necessary. And when you're with him, for the first time in your life, you experience the feeling of belonging. The feeling of being _home._

**x.**

Blair Cornelia Waldorf thought she knew all there was to know about life. That is, until, she met Dan Humphrey.

**Author's Note:** This was written because I thought Chuck was her great love and Dan was her right love.


End file.
